COMPOSITE GAZETTEER OF ANTARCTICA

A confluent glacier projecting as an ice shelf into the SE part of Marguerite Bay between Cape Berteaux and Mount Edgell, along the W coast of Antarctic Peninsula. Discovered by the BGLE under Rymill, 1934-37, who named this feature for James M. Wordie, Honorary Secretary (later President) of the Royal Geographical Society, member of the Discovery Committee, and chairman of the Scott Polar Research Institute. He also had been geologist and Chief of the Scientific Staff of the British expedition, 1914-16, under Shackleton.

Former ice shelf that extended NW into Marguerite Bay, Falliéres Coast, to the ice front (1974) between Deschanel Peak and Mount Guernsey, and incorporated several ice rises, was roughly mapped by BGLE in September 1936 and named Wordie Shelf(-)Ice after James Mann (later Sir James) Wordie (1889-1962), Scottish geologist and polar explorer; Chief of Scientific Staff, BITAE; Leader of expeditions to Jan Mayen, 1921, East Greenland, 1923, 1926, 1929, and West Greenland and Arctic Canada, 1934 and 1937; member of the "Discovery" Committee, 1923-49, and of the BGLE Advisory Committee; observer with FIDS in 1947; Chairman, FID Scientific Committee, 1948-56, and member of APC, 1948-59; President, RGS, 1951-54 (Rymill, 1938a, photograph facing p.429; BA chart 3175, 1.iii.1940; Stephenson, 1940, map facing p.232). Hielo Fijo Wordie (Argentina. IGM map, 1946). The ice shelf was further surveyed by FIDS from "Stonington Island", 1948-50. Barrera de Hielos Wordie (Argentina. MM chart 110, 1949). Wordie Ice Shelf (BA, 1952, p.30; chart 3175, 12.xi.1954; [in 60°15'S 67°45'W] APC, 1955, p.22; DCS 601 sheet 6866, 1955; DOS 610 sheets W 6866, 6966 and 6968, 1963; [co-ordinates corrected from USLANDSAT imagery of January 1974] APC, 1977, p.36; BAS 250P sheets SR 19-20/2 and 19-20/6, 1-DOS 1978). Wordie Ijsshelf, Wordie-Schelf-Eis (Kosack, 1955a, p.589 and end map). Tavolato di Ghiaccio Wordie, Shelf Ice Wordie (Zavatti, 1958, Tav. 9, 12-13). Shel'fovyy Lednik Uerdi (Soviet Union. MMF chart, 1961). Planicie de Hielos Wordie (Chile. IGM map 16, 1966). Extensive calving took place along the ice front between February 1972 and January 1974, as revealed by USLANDSAT imagery (Colvill, 1977, p.391-92). Following further calving as revealed in USLANDSAT imagery of February 1979, the ice shelf was seen to extend W only to Napier Ice Rise, whereas in 1949 it had extended W to Bugge Islands. [Wordie Point, Visokoi Island, South Sandwich Islands, is also named after Sir J.M. Wordie (Hattersley-Smith, 1980b, p.97).] Massive break-up of this ice shelf has led almost to its disappearance as an entity; several of the ice rises contained in it may have become islands, e.g. Napier and Reynolds ice rises (Doake and Vaughan, p. 328-30). Some of the ice rises have disappeared altogether, e.g. Linchpin and Miller Ice Rises. Landsat-7 satellite imagery in Dec. 2004 showed that all of the shelf ice had broken away, leaving floating glaciers which appeared to be undergoing significant calving. The area once covered by Wordie Ice shelf is now known as Wordie Bay (q.v.).

Descubierta por la BGLE al mando de John Rymill, 1934-1937, quien le dio el nombre por el apellido de James M. Wordie, secretario honorario y después presidente de la Real Sociedad Geográfica, miembro del Comité Discovery y presidente del Instituto de Investigaciones Polares Scott. También fue geólogo y jefe del Cuerpo Científico de la Expedición Británica de 1914-1916, al mando de Shackleton. Glaciar confluente, que se proyecta como una barrera de hielos hacia la parte SE de la bahía Margarita, entre el cabo Berteaux y el monte Guernsey, sobre la costa W de la península Tierra de O'Higgins.